LOS ANGELES (AP) – “Anola” creator Sean Baker won Best Director, Best Picture and Two Academy Awards at the Oscar on Sunday, booking the dominant awards season for American filmmakers trying to humanize sex workers and immigrants.
Baker, 53, wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, swept all four categories. The comedy drama stars Mikey Madison as an exotic Brooklyn dancer who marries the impulsive son of a Russian oligarch. They impulsively tie the knot on a ketamine-induced Las Vegas holiday, angering their parents and abolishing the henchmen hanging out after the couple.
With his four Oscars, Baker ties down Walt Disney, the most won in a year in Academy Award history. “Anora” is a big winner of the night, winning five statues overall, more than two than “Brutal”. (Unlike Disney in 1954, all of Baker’s victories were off the single project. Bong Joon Ho was the previous record holder for most of the victory in the 2017 “Pasite” single film.)
In addition to Best Director and Best Picture, Baker won with Best Original Screenplay and Best Editor. This is unusual because directors don’t usually cut their own films. He came on the night of Oscar’s favourite after winning the highest award from the American manager’s guild, a historically historically victorious victory that guarantees Oscar’s victory. He also took home the Top Awards at the Producer Guild and Independent Spirit Awards.
If Mikey Madison didn’t cast on “Once Upon a Time,” there wouldn’t be “Anora,” Baker told Quentin Tarantino, who gave the award. Madison won her first Oscar, the lead actress.
This year’s best director lineup featured five first-time candidates in the category for the first time in nearly 30 years. It shows the Academy’s preference for Auther, who has written credits for their respective films, and can skillfully bring their visions. For Oscar, Baker hits “Brutalist” Brady Corbett, “The Complete Unknown” James Mangold, “Emilia Perez” Jack Audido, and “Material” Coralie Fagito.
“Anora” brings Baker’s distinctive style of provocative comedy from indie theatres to mainstream, blending slapstick humor with social commentary in a way that gives a wider audience the lessons about marginalized groups. He made the film on a modest budget of $6 million. One producer who previously joked about it is smaller than the catering budgets of some of its competitors. He said Sunday it was the highest $6 million spent ever. Last year’s best photo winner, “Oppenheimer,” had a $100 million budget.
Baker has spoken out about the difficulties of survival as an indie filmmaker in an industry that makes independent films and increasingly supports large budget glasses. In his speech at the Independent Spirit Awards, he said that the indies are at risk becoming a “calling card movie.” The film was made only as a way to be hired for projects at major studios. Without supporting independent films, he said some of the most creative and innovative projects might never be made.
He encouraged filmmakers to keep the film moving for the big screen, lamenting the erosion of the theatrical experience.
“It’s an experience to watch a movie in the theatre with the audience. We can laugh together, cry together, scream in fear, and perhaps sit together in a devastated silence. In an age when the world can feel so divided, this is more important than ever. It’s a collaborative experience that you simply can’t get home,” he said.
Baker has long been passionate about using his craft to help make the sex work fight come true. His 2012 film “Starlet” follows a budding friendship between an adult movie star and the widow of Clotcheety, who sells cash-filled thermos at yard sales. Baker said the connections he formed with the sex workers involved in the project encouraged them to feature in several other films.
He received extensive praise for “Tangerine” (2015). There, he told stories about transgender sex workers in Los Angeles using three iPhone 5S smartphones. In “The Florida Project” (2017), a single mother living in the Orlando Motel turns into sex work to provide her daughter. “Red Rocket” (2021) follows the retired porn actor’s journey to his little Texas homeland.
Baker and Madison were not the only ones to come to pick up Oscar for “Anora.” Producer Alex Coco and Baker’s wife Samantha Quan were also statues for the best photo victory.
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